U.S. Team's Manager Promises Physical Hockey at Olympics

By JEFF Z. KLEIN

Published: August 19, 2009

Brian Burke may seem like an odd choice to be general manager of the United States men's Olympic team.

Burke is an N.H.L. traditionalist, the outspoken leader of a conservative faction of general managers who see themselves as defenders of old-fashioned, physical hockey and who are skeptical of the league's participation in the Olympics.

Speed, finesse and creativity are the hallmarks of the international game, but Burke has promised that the United States team at the 2010 Vancouver Games will be a physically imposing one.

''There will be some beef on this team; there will be some muscle,'' he said Monday in his introductory remarks. ''Those of you who know me from the N.H.L. know that I like big, physical teams.''

In recent years in his N.H.L. career, Burke has earned his reputation by seeking to loosen rules against players who start fights; building a big, truculent Anaheim Ducks team that led the league in fighting and penalties while winning the 2007 Stanley Cup; and playing an instrumental role last season in blocking a proposed rule to impose an automatic penalty for checks to the head.

Burke's current N.H.L. job is rebuilding the Toronto Maple Leafs into another hulking, provoked-at-a-glance outfit.

But the Olympic team will be vying to beat the flair of the Russians, the Swedes and the Finns.

Burke does have the advantage of a rare Olympic tournament played on an N.H.L.-sized rink; hockey at the Games will be played on the Vancouver Canucks' home ice.

International hockey is normally played on a larger sheet of ice, 200 feet long by 100 feet wide (about 60 meters long by 30 meters wide); an N.H.L. rink is only 85 feet wide (about 26 meters). But Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee did not want to remove seats from the hockey arena, Canada Hockey Place, and the International Ice Hockey Federation agreed to the smaller surface. So, checking and banging, Burke-style, will have a bigger role this time.

''We'll need some big-body guys, and guys who can win face-offs, block shots -- and some bangers,'' Burke said. ''We'll need some beef on the hook among those bottom six forwards.''

None of the 34 players invited to the orientation camp by Burke and his Olympic associate, David Poile, the Nashville Predators' general manager, comes close to being referred to as a goon. But some of them can bruise and agitate: forwards like Dustin Byfuglien of the Chicago Blackhawks and Ryan Kesler of the Canucks, and defensemen like Mike Komisarek of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Brooks Orpik of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

''I definitely play a physical role,'' said Byfuglien, who at 6 feet 3 inches and 247 pounds was effective crashing the net last season. ''If that's what they need and they pick me, it'd be an honor to wear the U.S. jersey.''

Burke has no previous experience as an Olympic general manager, but he ran the United States teams at world championships in 1993, when it finished sixth, and this year, when it placed fourth. Burke said the emphasis on size was partly necessity, given the difficulty of matching up with the Olympic favorites, Canada and Russia.

''We are going to be a dramatic underdog in Vancouver,'' he said. ''There is not going to be a single cent bet on this team in Las Vegas.''

The players here range in age from 39 (Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars) to 20 (Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks). But Burke said that 40 other players had been identified for possible inclusion on the team, which is expected to be named before the end of the year. The selections will be made by Burke, Poile and four other general managers: Ray Shero of the Penguins, Dean Lombardi of the Los Angeles Kings, Paul Holmgren of the Philadelphia Flyers and Don Waddell of the Atlanta Thrashers.

On the ice Tuesday at the Seven Bridges Arena, the players went through a brisk series of drills -- without contact, because the N.H.L. had not extended its insurance to cover players at this camp.

Burke, like other conservatives in the league, is not keen on the N.H.L.'s Olympic break. He is especially skeptical of participating in the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.

''No other business shuts its doors,'' Burke said. ''We suspend our season for more than two weeks, and we get very little benefit from it. We get some bang when the Olympics are in North America, in Vancouver or Salt Lake. But when they're overseas, we have gotten no bang at all.

''I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last Olympics the N.H.L. takes part in.''

The players, however, favor continuing to participate.

''The Olympics are the pinnacle of sport, and I don't think you should pick and choose,'' Paul Kelly, the executive director of the N.H.L. Players Association, said Tuesday. ''Once you've been invited to participate in your particular sport at the Olympics, you should participate regardless of where they're held.''

The league and the union must agree on the 2014 Games when the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2010-11 season.